TOKYO: Japanese stocks jumped on Monday morning after China cut interest rates over the weekend while Wall Street gained on strong US jobs data, helping offset a plunge in shares of Sharp Corp and Toshiba Corp.
Sharp tumbled 31 per cent to 178 yen, the lowest since December 2012 after the Nikkei business daily said it plans to reduce its capital by 99 per cent to 100 million yen as it wipes away years of accumulated losses. The company later said in a statement that it is considering various steps including preferred share issuance and capital reduction but nothing has been decided.
Toshiba slumped 17 per cent to a one-year low of 403.3 yen after it cancelled a dividend payment and withdrew its earnings outlook as it expanded an investigation into accounting irregularities which began last month.
The Nikkei 225 rose 1.3 per cent to 19,624.51 at the midday break, recovering from a one-month low hit last week.
